Punch Card Management

Norbert Lou

Norbert Lou is the founder and portfolio manager of Punch Card Management, a concentrated value investment firm he started in 2004 with $10 million in seed capital from Joel Greenblatt. A Cornell University graduate, Lou began his career as an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman before joining Elliott Management, where he worked from 2000 to 2004. Lou's approach is named for Warren Buffett's "punch card" idea—that an investor should act as if limited to twenty decisions in a lifetime. He practices it literally, holding only three to six positions and keeping large cash reserves when he finds little worth buying. He applies a strict test to every idea: he will only invest in a company he believes can outperform Berkshire Hathaway. Greenblatt first noticed him through his award-winning write-ups on the Value Investors Club, including a pitch on the homebuilder NVR that Lou bought at $23 and held as it climbed above $700. Lou is intensely private, giving no interviews and running the firm with minimal public presence.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc· ≥47 qtrs